Saturday, August 31, 2013

Hi everyone! Some of you may be familiar with Australian brand Glitter Gal, one of the first Australian nail polish brands to release stunning holographic polishes. The recently released two new shades and I have one of them to show you, along with an older shade, but just as stunning :)

Hot chilli is a bright red holographic. As most holo lovers know, red is a really hard shade to create with this finish as it may cause the end result to look more pink. Glitter Gal has hit the mark with this one though and it's a gorgeous red shade ♥ The swatch shows two easy coats.

10 to midnight is an older charcoal grey holo polish. There's actually some metallic finish within this polish and makes me love it all the more. Ironic because I don't usually love metallic finishes! Photos show two coats of the pretty shade.

Glitter Gal nail polishes are available from the website. 10mL bottles are $11.95 each and 15mL bottles go for $17.95. While this may sound pricey from some international ladies, this is actually the 'norm' in terms of nail polish prices within Australia. Just think, OPI bottles retail for $20 each!

Do you own any Glitter Gal nail polishes? Which one is your favourite?

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Hi there! Here is a quick post of some animal print nails (plus studs!) I did awhile back.

Pinky, index & thumb: Two coats of OPI Did you 'ear about Van Gough?
Ring: Two coats of Did you 'ear about Van Gough? stamped with a zebra print using Ulta3 lily white. The black is Ulta3 black satin.
Middle: Two coats of lily white and stamped with black satin. I taped off half the nail and layered China Glaze Poinsettia over it. Covered the middle with studs!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Hi ladies! Today I have a couple of Orly's core nail polishes to share with you.

Green with envy is a pretty darker turquoise shade which was a bit sheer. I applied three coats for my swatches and there was no problem with the formula. I'm loving these shades of green at the moment; must be because it's starting to warm up here in Australia!

Purple crush is definitely named wrongly - it looks more like a bright, hot pink...at least on my nails! It's brighter than my photos show and was two coats. A fun and summer pedicure appropriate shade :D

Monday, August 26, 2013

Hello everyone~ While I was browsing Instagram (again!), I saw some cute patchwork nail art by jessuhhhkuh and knew I would have to try them myself. Too bad my feeble attempt was really not up to par with the original but I think the holographic goodness that is Orly Sparkling garbage saved the look ;) I used two coats of Essie Turquoise & Caicos for all nails except for my accent nail, which is two coats of Orly Green with envy. Sparkling garbage was layered over the base shade on my index & pinky.

I just adoreeeeeee Sparkling garbage! It's so amazing and pretty even in dim lighting. I can't wait to play with this one more :)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Hello everyone! I have the greatest pleasure in sharing some nail polishes from Australian indie brand Alanna Renee Bundle of Joy collection. The collection consists of three pastel shimmers and two glitters. In addition to the launch of Bundle of Joy, Alanna has also decided to release Lenny, a nail polish she created for What's In-die Box June.

First up though, all Alanna Renee nail polishes now come boxed! I love the light purple packaging which is simple and straight to the point.

Here is It's a girl!, a sweet pastel pink with a soft silver shimmer. Although it's soft, it's still apparent in real life and it's such a pity that the shimmer doesn't show up as much in the photos. This was two coats of It's a girl!.

It's a boy! is the pastel blue equivalent of the polish above. It's a little brighter than I had expected for a pastel blue but I love it all the same. Again, the shimmer decided to play hide and seek for my photos - it is definitely more apparent in real life. Two coats.

Sugar & spice & all things nice is one of the glitters in the collection. It's pretty dense, which I was surprised with, as I expected it to be a layering glitter. I had to really wipe my brush off to layer one coat over It's a boy!. I just love the combination of colours in this glitter mixture - you can never go wrong when there's purple glitter around ♥ ;)

Lenny is a mixture of smaller blue and orange glitters mixed with larger black circle glitter in a milky white base. I actually didn't expect the polish to be too opaque but was surprised with how it looked at two coats, which is what my swatches show. The black glitters were harder to get out and required some fishing. Overall though, I'm impressed with Alanna's interpretation of Lenny from Toy Story - the glitters are really spot on!

The Bundle of Joy collection and Lenny is now available at Alanna Renee's online shop. Each bottle retails for $7.99 or you can purchase the entire collection of 6 bottles for $35.96. Alanna only ships within Australia but fret not international ladies! Check out the stockists page for international sellers.

Are you a fan of pastel shades? Do you like the shimmer in these ones? :)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Hello everyone! I do apologise for the time it has taken me to get these comparisons up so I won't dilly dally any longer :) If you haven't seen it already, here is the link to my swatch and review post of theSan Francisco collection.

Alright, let's get right into the comparisons! All swatches show two coats.

One of the requested comparisons was to see how similar In the cable car-pool lane and Anti-bleak were. In the cable car-pool lane has a crelly formula and is more berry toned compared to Anti-bleak, which is more purple toned and has a definite crème finish.

When I first saw Keeping Suzi at bay, it really reminded me of China Glaze First mate so I decided to put them side to side. No dupes here since First Mate is darker.

I decided to also do a side by side comparison of First date at the Golden Gate and Lost in Lombard since they look so similar within the collection. Next to each other though, you can definitely see Lost in Lombard is a darker red whereas First date at the Golden Gate leans more orange toned.

Lost in Lombard and Orly Ruby. They are very similar with Ruby being a touch brighter.

Haven't the foggiest and OPI Your royal shine-ness. No dupes here - Haven't the foggiest has a blue tinge to it.

Muir muir on the wall and OPI Every month is Oktoberfest. These two are very close too! Every month is Oktoberfest is a smidgen darker and more purple but it really isn't a huge difference. However, if I had to pick, I'd choose Every month is Oktoberfest simply because of that tiny difference :)

So there you have it! These are some nail polishes I found in my stash which were close (or I thought were close) to some of the San Francisco ones. I hope this helps with purchase decisions :)

Monday, August 19, 2013

Hello ladies :) Today I have a new to me brand to share with you. Dazzle Dry is a brand of nail polish which is marketed to be completely dry within 5 minutes. Fast drying nail polish? Oh yes please! Let's see how well it fairs on the drying claim too ;)

In terms of formula, all the nail polishes dry extremely quickly. It is definitely dry to touch within a couple of minutes. The polishes all dry matte, but that's nothing a top coat can't fix. All the swatches are shown with top coat.

First up is Anticipation. It is a pretty taupe purple - nothing exciting, but with the added plus of a fast drying formula. Photos show two easy coats.

Evening song is a beautiful blue shimmer. I love nail polishes like this because they show so much depth! This was two coats and I really couldn't expect anything more with the application and quick dry time.

Pumped up purple is a super dark purple which leans almost black in dimmer lighting. The purple is actually a lot more apparent in real life, but my camera decided to capture the vampier side of the polish. This was two easy coats.

Diamond is a holographic glitter polish suspended in a clear base. I layered one coat over Pumped up purple.

The holo comes to play in the sun! :)

I also had the opportunity to try out the Dazzle Dry Nail system which includes a nail prep, base coat and top coat.

Whilst there isn't anything too special with the nail prep and base coat, I am absolutely in love with the top coat ♥ It's extremely fast drying, even more so than my usual go-to fast dry top coat Cult Nails Wicked Fast. I also love how it's not too thin so that it covers finishes like glitters really well. My nails are definitely rock hard within 5 minutes and it's now become my new go-to quick dry top coat!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Hi ladies :) I must be the last person to post about this collection, but it's too pretty to not share so I hope someone still finds this useful! For the international ladies, Ulta3 is a cheap, but quality Australian nail polish brand who has really picked up their game at releasing on trend nail polishes. The recent Glitterati collection features a mixture of foils, shimmers, and glitter nail polishes.

All my swatches show two coats, except for the layering polishes, which are only one coat over a base shade.

Glamourpuss is a fine silver polish. I own a few silver polishes and this one looks like it has the smoothest looking finish.

Celebutant is a pretty pink foil.

Striking is an aqua shimmer.

Infamous, what a stunning polish! Love the teal and shimmer, it creates so much depth ♥

Triple threat, a black based polish with rainbow micro glitter. It does dry bumpy so top coat will be needed.

Gossip is a magenta glitter polish. Layered over black.

A lister, a bright light blue glitter. Layered over black.

Show stopper is a mixture of gold and silver glitters. It's a little sparse so some dabbing will be required.

xoxo, a sheer multicoloured shimmer made for layering. I layered one coat over Australis Peek-a-boo.

Outasight is a black glitter polish. I layered one coat over Australis Rub a dub dub. Cheapest black glitter released for Australian ladies! :)

Stop the press. I believe this one is the star of the collection :) Black and white glitter, who can ask for more? One coat over Ulta3 watermelon.

What do you think of the nail polishes in this collection? Have you picked up any of these?